Three Army National Guard aviators received Kentucky's highest award Dec. 6 in recognition of their actions during a life-saving flight 30 years ago this month.

Retired Lt. Col. Willoughby S. Goin, retired Chief Warrant Officer Lloyd Bailey and Master Sgt. Harmon Cross received the Kentucky Medal of Honor at the Kentucky National Guard Association building in Frankfort, Ky.

The trio braved a brutal snowstorm to medically evacuate a 13-year-old girl seriously injured in an auto accident near Pineville, Ky., Jan. 29, 1978.

Goin recalled being at home that evening when he received a call from Dr. Talmage Hayes, a doctor he knew in Pineville.

"The doctor said she would die if we didn't get her to Lexington [more than 100 miles away], so we had to do it," Goin recalled. "We didn't have much choice."

The winter of 1978 is considered one of Kentucky's worst, with repeated snowstorms that paralyzed many areas. Roads were too icy for a ground ambulance to reach eastern Kentucky that night, and no hospital in the state at that time had a medical helicopter

With Goin as the pilot in command of the UH-1 "Huey" helicopter, Bailey acted as co-pilot and Cross was crew chief.

Despite a winter blizzard, cold temperatures and low fuel, the mission was a success.

The victim, Kathy Campbell, was delivered safely to a Lexington hospital. She is still alive today.

The mission "fell through the cracks," Goin said, until Hayes, the doctor, recendy decided to push the matter

After he wrote a letter describing the perilous flight, Kentucky Guard officials decided to present the awards.

-By David Altom

© 2008 National Guard Association of the United States Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.